Blackblade 12.0 - The Groggy Goose Massacre
Back in Verdigris, the group spent a day gathering themselves and planning their next move. After speaking to Vol, Ridley and each other, they decided that they would take Vol to Kalleandar, in the hopes that Jack might have some idea as to where Vol should go. They purchased some clothes for the young elf, and decided to set out on the next morning. Vol, for his part, was rather trepidatious, but by this point had calmed down enough to talk to; he was still overwhelmed by recent events, and was somewhat passive regarding the next direction his life would take. With the help of one of the two strange broken rods that Raito had acquired in Riolythe City, which apparently cast a modified type of Teleport spell, the group made good time and arrived in Kalleandar days earlier than they would have otherwise. On their way, Raito set Vol to copying some of the spells from the slain elf guardsmens' books, and professed an intention to kill the sorta-white-eyed guy. He also lended the second weird rod to Vol, after displaying its unpredictable and odd effects. They reached Kalleandar's outskirts in the evening, whereupon Yomiel made it clear that he couldn't just walk into the city. Him and Raito had a disagreement of sorts, wherein Yomiel refused to explain why he had blown up the old hospital, and Raito refused to lend his Hat of Disguse. As it stood, Yomiel pitched a tent near the road and Raito told him to be in that exact spot two mornings from that moment. The rest of the group headed directly to the Groggy Goose. Leaving their animals in the alley nearby, the group entered the bar, which was lively and warm. Raito had a passerby announce their presence to Jack, while they ordered some food. Some time passed before they were called upstairs, where Jack met with them in a small bedroom. Their conversation was terse; Raito tried to wheedle Jack into helping them get across the Seldarin Mountains so that they could return to Yeto, while Jack, obviously struggling to maintain politeness, wanted an explanation as to why he should continue giving aid to them for no benefit. At that point, a man stuck his head into the room, and asked if Jack could come deal with a problem: apparently, a group of men in strange armour, along with a man in a cloak, had come demanding that an elf be turned over to them. Jack went downstairs, while the rest, assuming that the elf they sought was Vol, tried to come up with a strategy. They debated, until a harsh voice with a broken accent interrupted them. The voice revealed itself to be an imp, who demanded that the elf be handed over now, this time with no negotiations. They vehemently refused, and the imp yelled something in its infernal native tongue. Ragoom lunged at the small devil, but missed as it turned invisible. Screams and crashes could be heard from below; Broken Tusk ran to see what was happening, with Raito and Ragoom close behind. The sight they were met with was disturbing indeed: a red, devilish creature was tearing through the tavern, laughing and rending people with its terrible claws, while men in Yeto armour guarded the doors and slew any who tried to pass them. Broken Tusk, Raito, Ragoom and Jack lept into battle, while Caelan held back, protecting Vol. Jack kept the guards at the rear of the building occupied, while the others focused on the devil creature and the guards at the front. Broken Tusk took the form of a megaloceros to do battle with the creature, while Raito and Ragoom assaulted it with steel and magic. Raito's black sword seemed to catch its attention, and the Yetoman nearly died on its claws. Moving cautiously, Caelan and Vol took up position on the stairs, where Caelen began firing with his bow, while Vol attempted to affect the battle with the rod Raito had lent him. The battle was fierce and bloody, but the group finally managed to overwhelm the creature, finally banishing it with an icy blast from Vol's rod. With the creature gone and one of their own fallen, the remaining three Yeto soldiers fled into the night; there was no trace of the imp that had spoken to them. Some of the few remaining patrons fled, leaving only the group, Jack and a few of his men. Overwhelmed, Jack sent one of them to take the terrified, yet unharmed, kitchen staff home, and began to organize the others in a clean-up effort. In all, fourteen tavern-goers had been brutally slain by the Yetomen and the devil. As they inspected, they found that the fallen Yeto soldier had survived, stabilized by one of Ragoom's healing spells. Raito declared that he should be killed, but Jack forbade him from spilling more blood. Raito then attempted to leverage the event into acquiring assistance from Jack to reach Yeto. The man stepped off to the side for a while, and appeared to be talking to himself. When he returned, he told them that he was going to Yeto, since the men who died here deserved justice, and he frankly didn't trust any of them to get it. He had somehow gotten a guide, and would be leaving from Renick in two days; they could join him if they so desired. While they didn't really know how he did it, or how he was going to get there in such short order, they thanked him and left him to handle the aftermath. On the way out, Raito's blade somehow managed to find its way into the unconscious soldier's heart. The group returned to the spot where they had left Yomiel, and told him that they would in fact be leaving in the morning. He seemed rather frustrated at this, seeing as how he had apparently just set up a complicated set of equipment, but did not argue. Using the emergency teleport rod, the group made it to Renick in the allotted two days, coming in at nightfall. Raito left a message for Shirley, and they all went to sleep. In the morning, everyone set to make preparations before they left town. Raito awoke and found Shirley downstairs, albeit not behind the desk. After a notably prickly conversation, it turned out that Shirley was in fact their guide across the mountains. Not long after Shirley left, Jack and Ridley came downstairs; Jack was infuriated at the sight of Yomiel, but conversation with Raito in the matter quickly proved unproductive. Caelan set to preparing Kirsikka, instructing Vol in the ways of horsemanship in the meantime, Broken Tusk had a chat with the local farmers in regards to soil pH, and Ragoom left to go spend the morning with his family. In the early afternoon, the group congregated as Shirley explained the dangers of the mountains. She was reasonably impressed with Broken Tusk's and Caelan's knowledge of the wilderness, but she assured them that the mountains were nothing quite like they've experienced before: the weather is unpredictable and cruel, the animals and monsters are large and fierce, the dwarves are violent and take no prisoners, and above all, the fey spirits haunt the area, playing cruel tricks and preying on the sentient creatures of the mortal world. With that, she told them that they would head out first thing on the following morning. Ridley, after confirming that all Yetomen have blonde hair, sighed and rather forcibly conscripted Yomiel into making hair bleach for him and Vol; the three went up to a room to conduct their business. The rest of the group continued on with their business, preparing for the trek ahead. Category:Banishment of the Blackblades